During the fabrication of large composite structures, such as aircraft, it may be desirable to convey, transfer, and/or otherwise move flexible elongate bodies. Under certain conditions, it may be important to perform the transfer process without significant deformation of the flexible elongate bodies, as deformation may damage the flexible elongate bodies. As an example, uncured composite layups may be transferred from a layup tool to a cure mandrel, and deformation of the uncured composite layups during transfer may cause buckling and/or wrinkling of the uncured composite layup. Such bucking and/or wrinkling may be undesirable and/or may require that the uncured composite layup be reworked and/or scrapped.
In addition to their flexible nature, the flexible elongate bodies may have various conformations, and it may be desirable to transfer a plurality of different flexible elongate bodies, with differing conformations, utilizing a single, or the same, systems, methods, and/or vacuum chucks. As an example, stringers for the wings of composite aircraft may vary in shape with a location of a given stringer within the wing of the composite aircraft. Under these conditions, it may be cost-prohibitive to utilize a separate and/or different transfer system to transfer each of the different stringers.
Historically, transfer of flexible elongate bodies often has been a labor-intensive, manual process in which a large number of people are utilized to lift and transfer the flexible elongate bodies. However, such a process often produces deformation of and/or damage to the flexible elongate bodies. Thus, there exists a need for improved systems, methods, and/or vacuum chucks for transferring flexible elongate bodies.